Singapore: Israel-based Teva is undergoing re-organization in order to mitigate lost revenue from increased competition from copies of its best-selling branded multiple sclerosis drug, Copaxone. The firm is investing $15 million over the next five years and has already given grants to more than 50 projects at Israeli universities to tackle central nervous system (CNS) diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

He added that in the next few years Teva should see brand new medicines that will allow the company to combine with other drugs.

Teva also plans to focus on new therapeutic entities (NTEs), which could be new uses, formulations, delivery methods or combinations of existing products. So far at least 13 have been approved for development this year and Teva expects some of these to be launched in the next few years.

Mr Jeremy Levin, CEO, Teva, said that, "I am convinced that this effort will yield not just one or two drugs but will yield a great understanding how the brain works, what types of diseases affect the brain and Teva and other companies will benefit from it."

He added, "This initiative is designed to build for the short and long term. I expect that over the next three, four, five years we should see a plethora of these things come to fruition."